This chart shows the age when most people feel the least happy

In a recent note to clients, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch team
led by Beijia Ma shared a chart using data from Nielsen that
shows people's self-reported well-being at various ages.

The most striking thing from the chart is that people report the
lowest levels of well-being in their early 50s. This is the age
at which most people are starting to seriously think about their
retirement plans, might be figuring how to pay for their
kid's
college tuition, and may even be thinking about taking care
of their aging parents.

Also interestingly, however, people report increasing levels of
well-being after their early 50s. And, according to this chart,
people report the highest levels of well-being in their 80s.

Of course,
patterns like this can change over time; 30 years from now,
today's 50-year-olds could end up less happy than today's
80-year-old, and today's 20-year-olds may be happier than today's
50-year-olds. But at least for now, middle age appears to be the
low point for self-reported well-being.

Here's what the BAML team had to say about well-being and aging:

According to Nielsen, there is "scientific evidence that people
get happier as they get older. While there are differing theories
as to why this is, most agree that it is an acceptance of aging
that promotes contentedness. Logically, this acceptance is more
apt to happen with older people." In OECD countries, more than
half of 65+ cohort report to be in good health, which means that
not only do the elderly have more free time, but they would be
equipped to take advantage of it.